This week there were two things that happened. One caused a big laugh and the other a very satisfying smile. First, the satisfying smile because it’s the more important.

I don’t have to tell anyone who lives on a dirt road or has a parched lawn that it’s been dry. My churches requested a sermon on The Big Flood that Noah experienced just so they might remember the word rain. Believe it or not, I saw a neighborhood dog marking his territory, not in the natural way, but because it has been so dry, the dog was using a piece of chalk!

And did you know that the drought had caused the city to issue the mandate that watermelon could only be eaten between the hours of 8 PM and 8 AM. It’s been dry.

During Sunday’s morning service, at Morning Prayer time, the Lord cleared his throat with a bit of thunder. Usually, that might cause some anxiety, but because it’s been so dry, everyone shouted an “Amen!”

After the service, in the early afternoon, I was a little drowsy and decided to take a short nap. While, going to sleep, I heard a larger clap of thunder and, then, the drops of rain began to fall upon the roof. The sound wasn’t quite as pleasant as that sound of rain on the tin roof of my childhood home, but it was rain upon the roof, nevertheless.

A very satisfying smile formed and I said a hearty, “Thanks, Lord!”

Now for the big laugh. I was watching television news and the story was about Congress considering a raise for themselves. That’s like an employee of yours not showing up for work but two or three days a week and, instead of actually doing the job for which you have hired him, does nothing.

Yet, your employee has the audacity to ask for a raise! Talk about a big laugh. If I had been drinking my morning coffee, there would have been one of those moments when I laughed so hard, coffee would have spewed all over my shirt and come out of my nose.

Jay Leno once told a joke about a Stanford University geneticist saying that human intelligence is declining. Then Leno said, “Do you realize that, if that is true, we’re seeing Congress at its smartest and most effective right now.” Scary!

Congress talks a lot about a minimum wage these days. They want to raise the minimum wage to $15 dollars per hour. That’s quite a bit of an increase from the $4 dollars a day I earned (and I mean earned!) in my summer days working in the tobacco patch.

At the same time, Congress knows a lot about a minimum wage. They really know how to do the minimum for the wage.

A raise for Congress is one of the few efforts that would be bi-partisan. Both Democrats and Republicans believe that a raise is in order. They remind us that it’s been ten years since they have received a raise. To that I say, it’s been much longer than ten years that you have done anything to warrant a raise.

I’ve always had the opinion that if you have to ask for a raise, there must be a reason you haven’t gotten one. Need I say more?

I read that approximately half of the Congress are millionaires when they are elected. I haven’t read anything about when the leave. I’m sure everyone of the them are millionaires by the time they leave and it’s not because they got a raise or two. Figure on that for a while.